In urban and rural India, a standardized patient study showed low levels of provider training and huge quality gaps.
Journal Article (Journal Article;Review)
This article reports on the quality of care delivered by private and public providers of primary health care services in rural and urban India. To measure quality, the study used standardized patients recruited from the local community and trained to present consistent cases of illness to providers. We found low overall levels of medical training among health care providers; in rural Madhya Pradesh, for example, 67 percent of health care providers who were sampled reported no medical qualifications at all. What's more, we found only small differences between trained and untrained doctors in such areas as adherence to clinical checklists. Correct diagnoses were rare, incorrect treatments were widely prescribed, and adherence to clinical checklists was higher in private than in public clinics. Our results suggest an urgent need to measure the quality of health care services systematically and to improve the quality of medical education and continuing education programs, among other policy changes.
Full Text
Duke Authors
Cited Authors
- Das, J; Holla, A; Das, V; Mohanan, M; Tabak, D; Chan, B
Published Date
- December 2012
Published In
Volume / Issue
- 31 / 12
Start / End Page
- 2774 - 2784
PubMed ID
- 23213162
Pubmed Central ID
- PMC3730274
Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)
- 1544-5208
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
- 10.1377/hlthaff.2011.1356
Language
- eng
Conference Location
- United States